


First Date/Beach Day

by intricate_glass_box



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: First Date, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Pre-Canon, features Numel and Carvanha, hardenshipping - Freeform, pure fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-18
Updated: 2019-06-18
Packaged: 2020-05-13 22:38:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19260568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/intricate_glass_box/pseuds/intricate_glass_box
Summary: You know that awkward middle ground where you’ve been spending a lot of time with someone, and really connecting with them? Maybe you’re pretty sure they feel the same way? There’s always one event that seems to tip the scales, when it becomes not “just hanging out” and might actually be a date this time.College freshmen Archie and Maxie enjoy a lovely day at the beach. // Written June 2019.





	First Date/Beach Day

**Author's Note:**

> Hmm, I had this idea a handful of months ago. One of those times when a scene manifests into your brain and you’re like “oh damn! I need to write this!” but it fell through a couple of times. I think ideas have a pretty stark time limit and once they’ve lost this certain quality to them you can’t actually write the true idea, but I made a solid and heartfelt attempt to finish it this week and I’m fairly happy with it.
> 
> This is an Archie and Maxie who are in college together; freshman year — Teams Magma and Aqua don’t exist yet and furthermore the ideological discord that lead to them hasn’t established itself yet. They’re still getting to know each other and exploring the inexplicable connection they’ve found they have.

Archie had asked Maxie to accompany him to the beach this weekend. They went to college near the beach (well, as is everything on Hoenn, relatively speaking) and Archie went almost every weekend, to sharpen his numerous water-based skills or just to relax. Maxie was usually the one hearing about it before class on Monday, but this time he’d invited Maxie along. But... it probably wasn’t a date. Was it a date? Maxie was nervous enough for it to be a date. He stood in the dim light (his roommate, of course, was still asleep, so Maxie couldn’t draw the blinds all the way; a dusty sunbeam hit the mirror and reflected across his swim shirt and shorts (red, of course). A nervous glance at the alarm clock revealed that he was due to meet Archie in the lobby in fifteen minutes. Date or no, he wanted to look good. (Ridiculous.) 

He assessed his pack: he was bringing a book for pleasure as well as an assignment or two - college stops for no man, even one on what may or may not be a date with an incredibly muscular, shockingly attractive, occasionally maddeningly annoying companion— _‘This train of thought? Not helping,’_ he admonished, mentally cutting himself off. 

He grabbed the pack, which also included water, snacks for him and his Pokémon, and sunscreen, and headed down. 

Archie — a morning person; unlike Maxie who merely forced himself up early for reasons of productivity — was waiting with his own beach gear, including a large sun umbrella. He broke into a grin upon seeing Maxie. “Eyyyy, Maxie! G’morning.” 

That was enough to unleash butterflies in Maxie’s stomach, and he replied with what he hoped was a relatively calm smile. “Good morning, Archie.” 

“Ready to go? I’m looking forward to showing you this place!” 

“Yeah, I’m ready. I’m looking forward to seeing it.” Maxie replied. 

“Alright! Let’s roll,” Archie exclaimed, turning towards the door. 

———

The beach wasn’t far; perhaps 10 minutes’ drive. Maxie gave it an appraising survey. It was relatively quiet as it wasn’t in a tourist area, which also made it relatively clean. It was beautiful — one side of the beach ended in an outcropping of grass, giving way to rocks and then sand down its bank, and the other stretched fairly far up, seeming to end mostly with the nearby town’s seaside homes and little shops. 

“Pretty, isn’t it?” Archie asked, observing for Maxie’s reaction. 

“Oh, yes. Very.” 

“Well, c’mon, let’s grab a spot for our towels and the umbrella,” Archie suggested, readjusting his share of the items and heading down to the sand. 

They set up fairly near to the grassy outcropping. Maxie unrolled his towel beside Archie and gently placed his pack in the shade before digging out his sunscreen and applying some. Archie pulled off his shirt (while Maxie snuck at least three glances) and kicked off his shoes, leaving them in a small pile beside his own towel. 

“You’re gonna come swim with me, right?” 

Maxie paused to look, with mock-deep thought, down to his swimsuit, then back to Archie. “No. What would make you think that when, of course, this swimsuit is a part of my everyday wardrobe.”

Archie scoffed. “Look, I wasn’t sure, alright? I’ve never seen you swim!” He swiped the sunscreen from Maxie and began applying some to himself. “Do you know how?”

“To swim? Not… really.”

“Okay. Well, we won’t go out too far, then. But I’m lifeguard-certified, anyway.” 

Satisfied with the sunscreen situation, Maxie took the bottle back, capped it, and put it back in his bag. “Is it—“

“Race ya to the water!!” Archie yelled over the start of Maxie’s question, taking off running down the beach.   
“—going to be cold.” Maxie sighed, rolling his eyes and following at a walking pace. 

When Archie reached the water, he pushed forward into some very smooth looking stroke and paddled further out than Maxie planned to go within just a few seconds. 

Maxie stood at the edge and let the water flow over his toes. Finding it was not particularly cold, he waded out further. Archie had made a lap of their local area and circled back to meet him, though stayed out far enough that he could remain underwater to the neck. “I won.” 

“I never agreed to race,” Maxie countered, taking another few steps forward, moving slowly to avoid kicking up sand so he could look at the shells under the water. 

“Because you knew I’d win.” 

“Because you didn’t ask before you took off!” 

Archie laughed. “Well, okay, that’s fair — but even if I’d given you a warning, I still woulda won.” 

This was, of course, correct, so instead of countering with a lie Maxie splashed him. At this distance, it was only a handful of droplets on his face. 

Archie pointed at him, threatening: “I’ll get you back for that, but I want to at least get you all the way into the water before I risk bugging you enough that you’d bail. Anyway, don’t y’know it’s better to get all the way in at once?” 

“No it’s not; I’m adjusting.” 

“Well, while you ‘adjust,’ I’m gonna take some more laps, okay?” Archie said, waiting for the affirmative from Maxie before paddling off again. 

Maxie was happy to be able to continue at his pace and continued scanning the sea bed for interesting shells and such (this had the added benefit of ensuring he wouldn’t step on any unsuspecting Pokémon, should there be any this far in) on his way out. Archie, for his part, appeared quite happy doing laps, and occasionally when on the deeper side Maxie would see him dive under the water and swim like that for a few seconds. Part of him wanted to worry, but he knew how experienced and knowledgable he was about all things water and that there was probably nothing to worry about. By now, Maxie was in up to his neck and experimentally parting with the floor now and again to kick his legs or stir his arms and move about gently. 

Then, there was a moment when Maxie realized he couldn’t see Archie at all. Before he could decide what to think about this, he heard a loud splash directly behind him and felt a cascade of droplets hit the back of his head. Whirling around, he caught Archie with a shit eating grin on his face. “You’re in. Now I can get you back for earlier.” 

“Oh, no you don’t.” Maxie splashed back in quick succession, spraying Archie, who in turn retaliated yet again by using his fluency in the water to get around to splash Maxie in the side of the face. The turn-based system broke down when Maxie responded with more rapid fire short splashes and Archie countered with the same, trying to leverage his strength to have bigger, overpowering splashes. This was relatively ineffectual, so he ducked under the water to escape, popping back up close enough to Maxie for the action to double as his next attack. 

Maxie stumbled backwards and splashed back viciously, sending a veritable wave directly into Archie’s face. They were both giggling. He finally relented when Archie had to turn away from the onslaught to catch a breath, seemingly defeated. But, clearly he was merely regrouping because in a flash he surged back forwards and grabbed Maxie at the waist before the other man had a chance to react. 

“What are you—“ Maxie sputtered as Archie proceeded to pick him up, spinning him around in the water. An arc of droplets spun around them, glittering in the sunlight; not that either particularly noticed, eyes only on each other. And Maxie laughed again, openly and carefree, at the weightless feeling, the currents swirling around his legs, and the surprise of it all. 

After a couple of twirls, Archie set him back down, a mischievous glimmer in his eyes. The brief water fight, apparently, was ended. 

Maxie wanted to thank him but couldn’t find the words, so they just paused for a moment, catching their breath and smiling stupidly at each other. 

Archie broke the silence, kicking back into a lazy float and kicking off a casual conversation. They relaxed like that together for some time, alternating between conversing and swimming around a bit at their respective skill levels. At one point Archie talked Maxie into learning how to float, correctly assuming he would not accept swimming lessons. It was after a bit of time spent both floating, gazing into the blue sky, that Archie asked, “d’you wanna grab something to eat?” 

Maxie replied, “Sounds good to me,” so they swam leisurely back to shore and bought overpriced sandwiches at a food stand. 

———

Archie used his last fry to wipe up the last of the ketchup from his basket before giving a satisfied sigh and asking Maxie, who’d only poked at his food for the last several minutes, “Ready to head back to the water?” 

Maxie gave him a somewhat confused look. “…But, we have to wait thirty minutes before swimming now.”

Archie laughed. “What? That’s a myth!”

Indignantly, Maxie protested, “No it isn’t! Digestion redirects your blood flow to your stomach and in the water that can cause severe cramping!” As soon as he said it — reciting something half-remembered that his mother had told him as a kid — he regretted it; of course Archie would be the more reliable source on the subject. 

“That’s not true, Maxie. It’s like an urban legend or whatever. Anyway, trust me, I’ve tested it about a billion times and haven’t died.”   
Maxie looked unconvinced. 

“Max, if you really want, we can look it up when we get back to campus. I promise you it’s fake, but it’s a really widespread fallacy so I get why you thought it was true.” 

“Fine,” Maxie scoffed, “but I’m going to wait out for a while anyway. I should feed my Numel before he gets hungry.” 

Archie hid an amused smile by polishing off his soda before collecting their trash and tossing it in the nearby receptacle. Together, they headed back to their corner of the beach. 

“While you’re feeding your Numel, I’ll train my Carvanha,” Archie announced, digging out the Pokéball. He ran back down to the beach, releasing the Pokémon into the water and beginning to shout some enthusiastic commands. 

Maxie watched, releasing his own beloved Numel onto the warm sand and petting its head gently. It made a happy noise at the affection, and perked up excitedly when Maxie turned away and withdrew from the pack his bowl, emptying a baggie of food into it, and setting it down for the little Pokémon who happily began to eat. 

Maxie felt reasonably content to stay in the shade on his beach towel watching Archie, who had since entered the water to continue training with Carvanha. He did, however, feel obligated to pull out an assignment and leisurely work on some of it. 

———

Some time later, when Numel had finished eating and begun napping in the warm sun and Maxie was trying not to join him in dozing, Archie plopped down onto his own towel beside him. 

“Hey,” Maxie mumbled, trying to shake off the sleepiness. “How’d it go?” 

“Pretty well, I’d say! He’s getting mighty strong. I’m hoping he’ll evolve into a Sharpedo soon.” 

Maxie merely hummed in response, having not spent enough time training Numel lately to propose a battle.

“That’d open up a lot of fun possibilities, other than battling stronger trainers of course. Sharpedo are strong enough to tow small boats and stuff. Hell, we could probably get one of those fancy inflatable couches and have him tow us around.” Archie asked. 

“Um. That doesn’t sound particularly safe,” Maxie replied. “I did tell you I’m a poor swimmer, didn’t I?” 

“But I’d be there. Anyway, in a proper boat I think you’d like going out on the water.” He got only a skeptical grunt in return, but seemed to ponder the scenario a few moments more, perhaps scheming, before continuing, “Working on a bit of homework isn’t such a bad idea. Mind if I join you? What were you working on?” 

“Of course not. I was doing geology but I finished the mythology reading yesterday if that’s what you’re on.” 

They continued like this for quite a while, eventually breaking to snack on some of the crackers Maxie brought. Studying on the beach was a welcome change from studying in the library as they frequently did — far less despair hanging in the air.

Eventually, Archie clapped his notebook shut. “That’s it; I’m sick of it. Also, if we want to catch the shuttle back to campus, we don’t have that much time left. I’m heading back to swim some more before we have to leave. Want to join me?

“I think I’ll watch from the shoreline.” He gave his Numel a last couple of pats before returning him to his Pokéball.

Maxie followed Archie down, stopping at the shallowest region where the tide ebbed and flowed, leaving foam and interesting sea debris. He spent a few minutes looking at the new additions since their study session but eventually decided to sit down. The water didn’t come any higher than his stomach at this level. Archie had swum out to the distance he’d been training with Carvanha. 

The day was winding down, and the other beachgoers were trickling away. It was shockingly peaceful, and Maxie was happier than he could remember being in a long time. 

Maxie laid down, not particularly caring about the wet sand getting into his hair. It was beautiful; the sun was setting and sparkling across the water. He felt the tide lap gently up to his shoulders, down to his waist, up to his shoulders, back down again… and fairly soon heard Archie splish-splash over and plunk down beside him. “You okay?” 

He sounded concerned. Maxie turned toward him. “Didn’t mean to inadvertently call you back in.” 

“Ahh, it’s okay. I just thought you’d conked out after all.” 

Maxie dragged himself back to sitting. “No, I was just relaxing here. I’ve had a really nice day.” 

Archie grinned, seeming pleased. “I wasn’t sure if you’d agree to come with me, but I knew once I got you here you’d have a good time.”

“Aheheh, yeah…” 

For the first time all day, in fact perhaps the only time they could remember, a slightly awkward silence fell between them. It seemed like Archie had something else to say but wasn’t saying it. They sat, looking out at the sunset. As with any awkward silence, it rapidly gets worse so long as it continues, and it was only a few moments before Maxie had to break it. 

Without a full sentence worked out, he turned to his companion and began, “Archie —“ 

He didn’t have to worry about continuing the sentence because in the same second Archie leaned forward and kissed him, gently but not timidly, short but with purpose. 

When Archie pulled away, Maxie could see a light blush on his face; his eyes were searching Maxie’s, hopeful and nervous, waiting for his reaction. He could feel the blush hot on his own face and knew he must look more surprised than anything else, though he was actually feeling somewhat disbelieving but otherwise thrilled. With no idea what to say, he allowed himself to break into a delighted smile, laughing softly and scooting a bit closer to Archie to let him know that this had been a pleasing turn of events. Archie laughed as well, the sound of anxieties being released, and leaned into the smaller man. 

Together, in relative and comfortable quiet lined with newly-acknowledged affection, they spent their last few minutes at the beach watching the water and imagining what might come next.

**Author's Note:**

> i’m,,,,,,, so gay,,,,,,,, happy pride month everyone


End file.
